Thursday, February 04, 2010

cold comfort



This morning I awoke in England. 


I could hear the soft patter of rain on the pavement.  The brisk damp rising in the bedroom.  I wondered whether to drive over to Blenheim to walk the palace grounds or down to Abingdon to visit the Huxhams.


And then I came out of my Nyquil fog.


I was still in Villa Obregon.  There was rain, but certainly not the light rain of an Oxfordshire morning.


Felipe and Billie report that the highlands have been under a rainy siege this week.  If you pull up a satellite image, you will see a large purple mass stretching from Denver to Oaxaca.  And a lot of us appear to be getting rain.


In our case, it started Tuesday night.  Thunder.  Lightening.  Wind.  Rain.  All of the elements for a great Wagnerian production.  The entire town was alive with the sound of striking lightening -- enhanced by the utter absence of electricity.


This weather is unusual.  We usually get these Götterdämmerung storms in the summer.  Almost never in the winter.  An occasional shower in February is noteworthy.  But Brünnhilde in the tropical Mexican winter is as uncommon as brie at a NASCAR race.


As a consequence of the rain, most of the restaurants in my neighborhood are closed.  Not surprisingly.  Most are open to the elements.  But the real reason is that very few people are stirring on the streets.  Walking and bicycling are simply a nuisance.


I would bemoan the fact that my head cold has hung on as long as it has -- almost a week now.  But the rain would have limited my planned travels.


So, I stay home.  Listening to Wagner.  Drinking Earl Grey.  Watching the rain fall.


My travels to the highlands may need to wait for another week.


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

don't you feel like you're back in salem? we're having a very mild winter here-warmest jan. on record i believe. it is 44 deg. and here it is just a little over 4:00 a.m. we had a few nice days earlier in the week but are back to the rain.

steve is on his 11th day with his cold and is finally going to the doctor today. a lot of people have it and it seems to linger. mine is not as bad but i've had it almost a week. nyquil worked great for me when it hit me hard over the weekend.

get better soon but in the meantime, enjoy your earl gray and your books.

teresa

did you get my e-mail yesterday? after i wrote it i couldn't remember if i pushed send. i'm getting senile.

Anonymous said...

Me thinks you like your Nyquil a bit too much.

I think the DEA needs to look into this and to put it behind the counter so children such as yourself do not hurt themselves experimenting with dangerous chemicals.

A N M

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the post Steve. I now know it is all over Mexico so there is no escape. If I hear Drip Drip Drip anymore I know I will be mad by Friday.

Joe S. said...

Rain that is curious! Yesterday I was searching for the current weather in Melague and today you report its just like Portland's, maybe colder? I too have "THE COLD", my russian cousin Smirnoff with Green Tea has been my Nyquil.

One Small Voz said...

It's been dreary here in Veracruz, sporadic showers. But it's still better than my native Ohio this time of year!

Steve Cotton said...

Teresa -- I have never seen rain like this in Salem. I don't think I received your email.

ANM -- Fortunately, no one in Mexico has heard of the freedom-hating DEA.

Richland -- Like tomorrow, the sun came out today. It is almost like living in an 80s musical --only worse.

Joe -- I see you have sunk to the level of the Russky (or would that be Polsky?) remedy. I suspect there is little difference in the content of our medicines.

Leah -- At least our rain has stopped on this coast. You seem to have had some very odd weather on the east coast this year.

Calypso said...

we are in Puerto Escondido and the weather is fabulous! 87F and sunny.

Steve Cotton said...

Calypso -- Before you get too smug, our weather has cleared up. This afternoon the temperature is 81 degrees, and we have a very comfortable 47% humidity. Just as I am getting ready to leave for LA for a week.